v6 tdi brakes

[budget]

hi everybody ,just a question re; brakes on the touareg.i am a little confused or am missing something here, brakes seem to be the most talked about maintanance issue with these vehicles. why are there so many rotors getting replaced when all you should be doing is replaceing pads? obviously if the maintanance is not being carried out an you damage the rotors and you cant reface them ok. are they somehow matched with the new pads? it seems a very silly high expenditure on a item that should never,ever need replacing.
thanks in advance.

[LDV R5]

Not too sure about the Touareg yet, as I'm obviously still learning.

But to say that rotors are a never need to be replaced item just isn't true anymore.

HSV AP Racing rotors are replaced every 60,000km. (HSV will not sell the OEM pads separately from the rotors - and it is not possible to buy rotors aftermarket as they are a non standard size.)

FPV are much the same with their Brembo units.

Ford Falcons are renowned for burning through rotors every 30-60,000km also (at least the older E series were anyway).

Rotors are now a much more expendable item.

As braking performance increases so does the associated wear and tear. Thus rotors that used to last the life of a car now no longer do.

[Transporter]

hi everybody ,just a question re; brakes on the touareg.i am a little confused or am missing something here, brakes seem to be the most talked about maintanance issue with these vehicles. why are there so many rotors getting replaced when all you should be doing is replaceing pads? obviously if the maintanance is not being carried out an you damage the rotors and you cant reface them ok. are they somehow matched with the new pads? it seems a very silly high expenditure on a item that should never,ever need replacing.
thanks in advance.

It probably also depend how do you drive and where. My daughter drives our Treg almost 100% of the time and at bit over 30,000km I don't see any wear on the rotors, she drives in morning and afternoon traffic a lot.

Also 20 years ago (that's probably the time you refer to) there was not such traffic like today and people were driving differently and different cars too.

[apom]

I had this issue on a Honda Jazz I had until recently. Speaking with the local brake guy, a guy with over 35 years experience, said is was now common place to replace rotors. Some cars are apparently notoriously bad, like some Holden Astra's need them replacing in as little as 30,000K.

On performance vehicles and 4wd's he said it was also due to a combination of the increased braking requirements along with larger and heavier vehicles.

His main point was however, about changing rotors, was that as we no longer use asbestos in the pad linings the materials now used are simply not as good and this impacts on rotor life!

[thevwbug]

hi everybody ,just a question re; brakes on the touareg.i am a little confused or am missing something here, brakes seem to be the most talked about maintanance issue with these vehicles. why are there so many rotors getting replaced when all you should be doing is replaceing pads? obviously if the maintanance is not being carried out an you damage the rotors and you cant reface them ok. are they somehow matched with the new pads? it seems a very silly high expenditure on a item that should never,ever need replacing.
thanks in advance.

Most VW have a soft rotor and hard pads, Touareg have sensors in the pads.
you will get around 50K out of fronts

[gslrallysport]

HSV AP Racing rotors are replaced every 60,000km. (HSV will not sell the OEM pads separately from the rotors - and it is not possible to buy rotors aftermarket as they are a non standard size.)

FPV are much the same with their Brembo units.

What? We've got both rotors and pads available for the complete HSV AP range (including the 6 pot VZ premium brakes and VE 4 pot) and the complete Brembo FPV range... who told you that???

[gslrallysport]

His main point was however, about changing rotors, was that as we no longer use asbestos in the pad linings the materials now used are simply not as good and this impacts on rotor life!

Definitely! Rotors are as much of an expendible item as pads these days... European rotors tend to fair worse though, replace them with an Australian type rotor from RDA and DBA, and you'll find they'll last longer...

[T Rex]

Most VW have a soft rotor and hard pads, Touareg have sensors in the pads.
you will get around 50K out of fronts

I have just had a 30,000 service on the V6 TDI and the service centre reported I still have 80% wear left on the pads and rotors. Having just completed a trip to Adelaide and back towing a car on trailer I was very happy with this. The big advantage of the TDI is the superb engine braking and this helps reduce the wear on brakes but all Touaregs have big brakes so they don't work too hard.

And yes, rotors are a consumable item on cars these days but they are usually quite reasonably priced. For example a Mk 3 Golf costs about $500 for pads/rotors for all four wheels. Geoff

Update. Just had 45,000km service and have been told we have about 5,000 km left in front brakes so maybe the 30,000 report mentioned above was rather optimistic. Have been quoted approx $1300 S&F - maybe someone can let me know if this is about right. Thanks . Geoff.

[T Rex]

Just thought I would add to my previous post.

Astounded that at 30,000km I was told that I had 80% wear left and then at 45,000km told I only had 5000km left I decided to do some checking. Using a set of digital vernier calipers (the end bit which measures depth) I checked how much the front rotors had worn down from the outer rim - only a bit over 0.50mm (half the 1.00mm limit each side). That means that at 48,000km they are only just over half worn. A visual inspection of the pads showed plenty of pad material left (the limit is 2mm).

Now all this is possible to measure with the car parked, wheels on. I would recommend checking your wear yourself before taking the word of the service department. If you don't already have a digital caliper they are available for around the $100 mark.

BTW I do plan to change the rotors/pads/sensor myself - the parts for the front 17" Brembo brakes are less than $600 from Tooley Imports in Hornsby, NSW. Geoff.

[Transporter]

At 46500km and 4mm friction material remaining "Check Brake Pads" message appeared, will go for slotted discs and aftermarket pads to get rid of that nasty squeal every time the brakes cool down and car starts moving, it wakes up whole neighborhood in the morning.